Can we solve common issues of cancer treatments through the use of a nano-sized crystal? Common cancer treatments today can be incredibly toxic: some are insoluble in water and therefore require higher doses, and some are non-specific – affecting more than just the unhealthy areas of the body. Treatments also tend to not last very […]
The world spends 20% of the electricity produced today on lighting. If we all lit up our homes and offices using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) instead of the conventional incandescent and fluorescent lighting, our electricity consumption will be significantly reduced. At present, efficient LEDs emitting blue and red coloured light are available. However, to achieve white […]
Electronics has become smaller, smarter and faster. Today, we can pack a computing power matching the performance of a machine which would have weighed hundreds of kilograms 40 years ago, into our pocket. However, state of the art electronics are mainly built on rigid platforms such as silicon and are ill-suited for wearable technology or […]
Small things are difficult to see. That’s why we use microscopes to look at ants, bacteria and human cells. The smaller the object, the more powerful and complicated a microscope must be – but the laws of physics mean we cannot keep going forever. Because light is a wave, it has a certain wavelength, and […]
Nanomaterials are extensively used for a wide range of applications encompassing medicine, diagnostics, defense, energy and many more. A large number of reports are published in literature every year on the synthetic routes that are available for nanomaterial fabrication. However many of these routes produce a huge amount of corrosive waste matter after the end […]
The global demand for energy is increasing with every year. If we do not want to rely on burning limited fossil fuels that emit greenhouse gases and contribute to the global warming, we need to find alternative sources. Sunlight, for example, is an abundant and carbon neutral. Photocatalytic materials, that convert water to hydrogen gas […]
Computer chips, industrial chemical reactions and detection of dangerous chemicals have all been improved by nanotechnology. Smaller parts packed closer and closer together have given us more sophisticated computer chips, more efficient ways of making medicines, and more sensitive chemical detectors. However, if we try to make an electronic device (e.g. a computer chip) with […]
For our bodies to repair and maintain themselves we must continually produce new proteins, the building blocks of life. However, protein synthesis sometimes goes wrong due to the protein misfolding into the wrong shape and structure. Usually, we have a cellular garbage disposal system that removes this molecular rubbish, but as we age this mechanism […]
Designing electrical components with mechanical softness in mind can move us closer to direct brain-machine communication. The ability to connect computer hardware with the human nervous system has long captured scientific interest, as well as the public imagination. While nowhere near exotic science-fiction constructs, as seen in movies like The Matrix or Total Recall, devices of impressive sophistication […]
Most colours we see, with the exception of coloured lights like neons or televisions, are produced by dyes: molecules and materials which absorb some colours and transmit others, and therefore are themselves coloured. For example, leaves appear green because chlorophyll, the molecule responsible for photosynthesis, absorbs red and blue light but not green. Birds show […]